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Swift Meat Packing Company Card, about 1914

In a time when most people bought meat from a local butcher, Gustav Swift sought to change the marketplace by developing a system of national packaged meat. In one effort to promote its products, the Swift Meat Packing Company of Chicago gave away celluloid (plastic) cards with a calendar on one side and an ad on the reverse. The advertisement reinforced the virtues of Swift meat, it pictured a healthy child holding a piece of government inspected ham.